Brad Cansler

Portrait Artist


Brad Cansler began his career in photography similar to a lot of photographers -- by doing weddings. He was spurred on by the fact that his own wedding photographs, done by a "professional" were so bad that he knew he could do better with a 35mm camera. Now, after years of study, his specialty is photographing families, children and seniors. Recently, his corporate portraiture has also been in high demand. 

Brad has had photographs displayed at Disney’s EPCOT Center on several occasions and Fuji Film USA selected him to give photographic technique presentations. Fuji Film USA chose two of his images to be used in their international ad campaigns for their professional film. 

A highly sought after speaker and teacher to other photographers, Brad is a member and holds Master’s and Craftsman’s degrees from the Professional Photographers of America. He is well known in the photographic industry for his technical expertise and ability to create consistently excellent portraits that his clients invest in and value highly.

http://canslerphotography.com/

Jamie Clauss

Portrait Artist


Creator of The $10,000 Baby Plan and with a $7,000 boudoir session average, Jamie Clauss specializes in pushing the envelope in genres traditionally plagued by low sales. She loves finding new ways of serving her clients while making sure the time invested in her business is well rewarded. Jamie operates her business out of her renovated garage studio in North Alabama. She’ll talk about sales all day if you let her, and she won’t grant you any excuses for not getting the sales you want. She has coached hundreds of photographers in sales and cherishes most the success stories from her coaching clients. Whether it’s a first-time sale of $11,000 or raising their average by thousands of dollars over the course of a year,

Jamie focuses on the mental foundations that must exist for even the most sophisticated sales systems to be successful.

She’s incredibly sentimental, laughs way too loudly, and is an extreme fan of The Office. She has the world’s most amazingly bearded husband and the mushiest 8-year-old son. If she can improve her sales from $50 to five-figures, you can too.

www.countifjoy.com

Craig McNeil,

Portrait Artist


Photography started for me on St. Patrick's Day 1990, where 6 months earlier my son Sean was born. I previously had a background as a professional skier and was looking for something other than seasonal work.  I needed to put food on the table for my family and had experience both in front of and behind the camera. I was looking for something that would give me a steady income and provide for the necessities of a young family.

I started off doing restaurant and nightclub promotions selling a photo key ring using Polaroid film. (Remember instant film?) I moved on to offering this service to preschools and day care centers and eventually "graduated" to high schools. As I consider myself a “people person” it was a natural fit for me.

The name of the company in the early years was “Cheek to Cheek” Photography. Because the only way I could get a couple or family in the key chain was if you were “cheek to cheek”. And as I mentioned was using Polaroid film which was very expensive at that time. Truly a humble beginning and as I write this is almost embarrassing to admit.

In 30 years I’ve seen many significant changes in the photographic industry, from film to digital camera to smartphones.  The biggest question is how did I go from selling a $5 key ring to selling a 5k(on up) wall portrait?  

Come to the workshop and I will reveal to you the secrets of the Universe!!!!!!


https://mcneildesignerportraits.com/

Charles Waugh

Portrait Artist


After college I designed and built fine furniture in Aspen, Colorado for a few years (the best of the best for the richest of the rich!). I left that and spent 17 years at a high end loudspeaker company going from the ‘jigs and fixtures guy’ to being a self-taught design engineer designing the product, the processes, the machinery and the plant.

Then, in 2002 I suddenly decided: “I’ll be a professional photographer!” At least I could spell it... but that was about all. You see, I thought it would be great to work out of my home and make money!

Thankfully, within a week of my ‘jumping off a cliff with an umbrella’ decision I ran into Jack Reznicki who was the current President of the PPA. He advised me to go to the Marketing and Managing Conference the next month in Biloxi, Mississippi.

It cost a lot - way more than my camera had! : - ) I gulped hard, spent the money, and went.

Well, I got to spend a full day with Jon Wolf who showed us how to create and sell wall portraits. It was projection sales - a rather new thing at that time and completely new to me (everything was!). I even cried when he ran the slideshow of images from somebody else’s family - it was powerful!

I called my wife from the hotel that night and told her I was evicting us from the master bedroom (which we didn’t like much anyway) and that it would become a Projection Room.

I went home, set up the room, followed Jon’s advice, shot a session, and my first sale was $3000+!!! I was hooked.
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Since then I have had three different studio locations in commercial buildings. My current studio is simply the camera room which I use for everything: consults, sales, and the photography session, with the ‘back room’ stuff done at home. I’ve found that my sales have not suffered at all going from a 1500 sq ft studio in a fancy office building to just the 20x30 camera room. 
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It’s not simply a fancy space and good equipment that make for great sales, its the... [to be continued at the seminar]

https://www.charlesfineartportraits.com/

Bob Zimmerlich  M.Photog.Cr.,CPP
Connie Zimmerlich  M.Photog.Cr.,CPP

Portrait Artists


Connie and Bob, owners of Siena Artè Portraiture located in North Scottsdale Arizona, met in elementary school where they played clarinet and trumpet in the school band. As fate would have it, the orchestra conductor assigned them to perform a duet of Romeo and Juliet, and the start of a beautiful relationship in their personal and business lives began that has lasted nearly 50 years (fortunately it didn’t end the way Romeo and Juliet ended). 

After starting a successful business together in 1981 that lasted through the decades, their love for photography and the arts (Connie was a dance teacher for 25 years) culminated in the creation of their portrait studio in 2006. Having lived the life of an entrepreneur since the age of 21 and their combined experience on how to run a successful business was paramount to running a profitable studio.

Over the years, Bob and Connie sought out the best artistic and business minds in the industry for mentorship, realizing that the path to success is dependent on constantly learning and applying techniques from successful business owners and artists that came before them. They were fully aware that even just one small tweak in their business practices could result in exponential gains in profits. Applying these ‘secrets’ to success, their studio was able to accomplish continued year-over-year growth from the beginning even through the great recession. Today their studio is recognized as one of the premier portrait studios in Arizona, a luxury brand that was achieved in part by learning from the ‘Masters’ that gave back to this wonderful profession.

Connie and Bob feel strongly themselves about giving back to a community of professionals that has shared so much with them over the years. Their business-related classes and competition boot camp seminars have been attended by hundreds of photographers. They are both Past Presidents of the Arizona Professional Photographers Association and are involved with PPA where Connie is a state counselor and Bob serves as Chair of the Bylaws and Ethics Committee. 

http://www.sienaarteportraiture.com/